A Drunken Mistake
by hesmus
Summary: Everybody makes mistakes but some of them are too big to forgive. Is Zoro able to fix his mistake? This is a ZoSan AU.
1. Chapter 1

_Whee~ Hello there! So here's a new story again. I felt like writing something with some angst so I created this. I don't know how many chapters I'm going to write but I'll think about that later. ^^_

_And I don't own One Piece._

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A vase crashed into the wall. The little pieces flew all around the room. Beautiful summer flowers fell on the floor, alongside with water that splashed on the floor and wall. Then a fancy plate crashed on the wall right next to the green haired man, causing more pieces to fly around.

"You fucking shit head!"

"Sanji calm down!" Zoro yelled, trying to calm down his lover.

"Why should I?! I have the perfect reason to be angry!" Sanji yelled back, tears forming in his eyes for first time in ages. He dried his eyes quickly and glared at Zoro.

"I know that! But just please calm down. Let's sort this out," Zoro said in a calm voice, lifting his hands up as a sign of surrender.

"There's nothing to sort out! This is over Zoro! So. Fucking. OVER!" Sanji yelled, tears now freely falling down on his cheeks.

"Sanji, I-" Zoro didn't know what to say. He didn't want to break up. Not now, not ever.

"How could you..?" Sanji sobbed. "How could you do this to me?! After two years together! Wasn't I enough for you?" Sanji stared at the floor. The pieces of broken vase and plate were all over the floor. Beautiful flowers which Zoro gave to him two days ago were now lying on the floor, slowly dying because of the loss of water.

"Sanji, I said I'm sorry! It was a mistake, a drunken mistake!" Zoro yelled in desperation. This couldn't end like this! No, he wouldn't have that!

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About two hours earlier Zoro and Sanji came home, laughing and talking about what they could do next weekend with their friends. Zoro went straight to the kitchen to grab a bottle of beer while Sanji went to their small living room. The phone's answering machine showed that there was one missed call and a message. Sanji pressed a button to listen to the message.

"Hi Zoro-kun~! It's me, Hana-chan~ I'm sorry I didn't call you earlier, I needed to ask your friends to give me your number. I just wanted to thank you for that amazing night last weekend. I hope that I can have that kind of mind-blowing sex with you again soon. Call me~" a woman in the tape giggled happily.

Sanji stared at the answering machine like it would explain what just happened. Zoro had just come into the living room when the message started to play. He froze completely and stared at Sanji with shocked eyes. He didn't know what to say or do. He looked frantically between the damn answering machine and Sanji who still had the blank look in his eyes.

There was a long silence before Zoro spoke. "S-Sanji… I can explain…"

"What was that message about? Please tell me that it was just a wrong number…" Sanji said quietly, now lifting his head up to look at Zoro. Sanji's eyes were full of sad and desperate feelings. He stared at Zoro with questioning look.

"I-I… It was a mistake Sanji. I was drunk and… it just happened. It didn't mean anything!" Zoro exclaimed. More excuses continued to leave Zoro's mouth. This whole time Sanji was dead silent. He just stood there and stared at Zoro.

"Sanji, please, say something," Zoro pleaded, frustrated because Sanji hasn't said anything, not even one insulting word. Zoro walked closer to Sanji and placed his hands on the blonde's shoulders. "Sanji, talk to me."

"Don't touch me!" Sanji snapped. "Don't you fucking touch me!" he roared and shook Zoro's hand away. And since that outburst Sanji had yelled at Zoro non-stop, and even started to throw things all around the apartment.

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"Sanji, let's talk about this, okay? We can sort this out if we do it together," Zoro said softly. Sanji calmed down a little bit.

"Fine, let's talk about it. Was she better than me? She said that you had 'mind-blowing sex'. So, was she better, huh?" Sanji asked in cold voice. His voice was colder than ice and it stabbed Zoro's heart like hundreds of daggers.

"Of course not! Why do you even ask that?! You're the only one I want to be with. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me," Zoro said smiling and pulled Sanji closer to him. Sanji calmed down a bit more. Zoro saw this as an opportunity to make his next move. He kissed Sanji softly, wrapping his arms tightly around Sanji's waist. At first Sanji didn't move but then he finally kissed back. Zoro could feel Sanji's still falling tears.

Sanji pushed Zoro away, wiping his face. "No Zoro… Don't…" Sanji whispered.

"Sanji, we can't let this ruin our relationship! We have worked so hard to make this work. You can't just throw all that away," Zoro pleaded again, now getting a bit angry because Sanji was ready to give up already. He grabbed Sanji's hands and squeezed them. "We can live through this."

"No, this is over now! If you want to be with me so badly then why didn't you think about that before you fucked some random chick?!" Sanji yelled and yanked his hands away from Zoro's grip.

"I already said that it was a DRUNKEN mistake!" Zoro yelled back.

"Stop giving me that shit! Don't you have any self-control?!" Sanji threw his hands up in frustration. "Can you please go away now…" he muttered.

"No! I'm not going anywhere until we sort this shit out. And this is my home too, just to let you know!" Zoro said firmly and looked Sanji in the eyes. Grey met blue. Once they were creating warm sparkles of love and excitement. Now the blue ones showed sadness, anger and the feeling of a broken heart.

Sanji rushed to the bedroom and started to pack some of his clothes. Zoro ran after Sanji and tried to stop him but it was no use.

"If you're not leaving then I am," Sanji stated and finished packing. Then he walked out of the bedroom and headed to the front door. Zoro tried to stop him once again but Sanji just shook Zoro's hands away.

"Sanji, you can't leave! Don't do this to me!" Zoro begged, trying to block Sanji's way out. Zoro never begged but now it seemed like a right time to do that.

"You have done much worse to me," Sanji said, pushing Zoro away from the door. "I can't stay here anymore, knowing that you cheated on me in this very same apartment. Goodbye Zoro. Hope you will have a fucking amazing life…" Sanji said quietly, almost whispering. Then he opened the door and walked out.

The door closed. Sanji started his car and drove away. Tears of sadness were still staining his pale cheeks.

He was gone. Sanji was gone. Everything was ruined. Zoro stood in front of the door, unable to move. He had ruined everything… He didn't move. He didn't cry. He just stood there, staring at the door like hoping that Sanji would soon open that door again and come back. But that didn't happen, of course.

All this because of one stupid drunken mistake.

_~~To be continued~~_

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**Beta read by ringtailedpheonix**


	2. Chapter 2

_Ah, the second chapter is here my friends. First I want to thank all those lovely readers who reviewed, favourited and followed (and just read) this story. I had no idea that this story would gather so many followers. So thank you SO much!~ You all make me so happy! But now I will shut up and let you read this brand new chapter. ^^_

_And I still don't own One Piece._

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**_Chapter 2_**

Days passed and Sanji still hadn't come back home. He didn't even answer Zoro's calls. The only thing Zoro knew was that Sanji was staying at Usopp's place. Usopp had called him the next day after Zoro and Sanji's fight. One day Usopp came to pick up some fresh clothes for Sanji. He said that Sanji had to go to work so he didn't have time to get them by himself. But Zoro knew better; Sanji just didn't want to come.

About one week after their fight Zoro gave up with trying to call Sanji and leaving messages. Then he started to think about his own behaviour. He had pleaded and begged like a shitty over-dramatic woman so that Sanji would stay with him. That wasn't like Zoro, not at all. Now he felt himself so stupid.

_'Shit! I'm becoming too soft! I can't let that happen!'_ Zoro thought furiously when he was picking up the phone to call Sanji again._ 'Damn that shit-cook, it's all his fault that I'm like this!'_ he grunted and left the phone on the table. _'If he doesn't want to make up, then fine!'_ And after that Zoro didn't call Sanji even once.

Zoro's days passed quickly. He would go to work and teach some kids at the local dojo. After work he would train like crazy until he almost passed out. And after his extreme training session he would go back home to drink booze until he fell asleep. Almost every night Zoro first had a happy dream where he was with Sanji but that always turned into a nightmare where they yelled at each other.

Zoro would always wake up in an empty and cold bed, empty booze bottles as his only company and a heavy feeling of loneliness in his chest. He would curl up under the blanket and stare at the empty space next to him where Sanji used to sleep. But now there were just empty sheets which still smelled like Sanji. At moments like these, Zoro would snap back to reality and wave it all off thinking that yearning for someone was for weak people. And he wasn't weak.

After one and a half weeks had passed after "the fight", Zoro came home, dead tired as usual after his extreme training. He threw himself onto the couch and turned the TV on. They were airing some stupid action movie. And because Zoro didn't have anything else to do he decided to watch the movie. But soon his phone rang. Zoro groaned and picked up the phone.

"Hnh..?" Zoro answered, not really caring who was calling.

"Oi, Zoro! It's Luffy!" Luffy's voice yelled.

Zoro groaned again. He wasn't in the mood to listen Luffy's childish ranting about his behavior during the last few days. Well, telling the truth, he never was in that mood. Luffy and his other friends kept calling him, asking if he was still alive and telling him to go out with them. But Zoro would always say that he's busy; he has work to do, he needs to train and etc. And this time wasn't going to be an exception.

"What do you want?" Zoro grunted.

"Hey, don't sound like that! I know you miss Sanji and all but at least try to sound happy," Luffy answered.

"I don't miss that curly brow! And I am happy!" Zoro almost yelled.

"Right… But anyways! We were planning to hang out on this Saturday. You should come too. We are going to stay at my place. Let's just watch movies and eat!" Luffy cried out.

"Thanks Luffy but I can't come, I have wo-"

"Cut the crap. I know that you have a day off on Saturday. Ace told me. You seriously need to have some fun. We are going to pick you up at 3pm. See you in two days then!" Luffy said and hung up.

"Well fuck… Now I HAVE TO go…" Zoro mumbled and buried his face in a cushion.

_'I wonder if he is going to be there too… But well, I don't give a shit…'_ Zoro thought and fell asleep, TV still on and showing the action movie where a muscular man just saved some chick from a burning building.

**AT THE SAME TIME ELSEWHERE**

Usopp opened his front door and walked into his apartment. He just came from Luffy's place and was full of excitement because of the up-coming weekend. Luffy had called Zoro and demanded him to come. Now it was Usopp's turn to make Sanji join them too.

Usopp looked around his apartment; his roommate, Chopper, wasn't home yet. But his guest was. Sanji was lying on the couch with an almost empty wine bottle on the coffee table. Usopp sighed at the sight.

"Sanji what are you doing?" Usopp asked, taking his jacket off.

"Drinking. Having some fun," Sanji said, slurring a little bit.

"I can see that… Shouldn't you be at work tonight?" Usopp asked and sat next to Sanji, turning the TV on.

"Nope. I have a day off. And then I found this little buddy!~" Sanji said happily, pouring more wine into his glass.

Usopp sighed again. One and a half weeks ago, Sanji had appeared behind their door, his face all messed up because of the tears and red eyes. Sanji asked if he could stay with Usopp and Chopper for awhile. And when Usopp asked what had happened Sanji just said bluntly that he broke up with Zoro. Usopp and Chopper were both shocked. They knew that Sanji and Zoro argued a lot but they never thought that those two would actually break up.

"Hey man, you have to cheer up! You can't be like this forever," Usopp said, looking at Sanji's miserable being. "We are going to have a movie night on Saturday. You should join us," he continued and smiled.

"Well yeah, I guess so…" Sanji mumbled.

"Zoro would be there too…" Usopp said warily.

"…"

"I think I have an evening shift then. Sorry, maybe next time," Sanji rushed to say.

"Sanji, you can't avoid him forever!" Usopp said, getting frustrated because of his friend's behaviour.

"Yes I can! I can avoid that shitty marimo as much as I want!" Sanji snapped and drank more wine.

"Hey, could you at least tell me what happened to you two? You didn't give me any reasons back then. It could make you feel better if you talked about it," Usopp said, looking at Sanji.

"Fine… I guess I can talk about it…" Sanji finally said after a little pause. "I broke up with Zoro because he cheated on me," Sanji stated bluntly, staring at his wine glass.

"WHAT?!" Usopp shouted. Now he was shocked! He would never even think that Zoro, of all people, would cheat on his lover. Zoro was the most loyal guy Usopp knew, but maybe he was wrong.

"Wha-? Why? When?" Usopp stuttered, staring at Sanji with wide eyes.

"Remember that weekend when I had that Baratie's business trip in the other town? Well it happened then. I called him a couple of times to make sure if he was okay while I was gone because I knew that he had a rough week at work. Some kids hurt themselves pretty badly during Zoro's classes," Sanji said and took a deep breath. Usopp didn't dare interrupt him so he remained silent.

"That moss head just told me to stop calling him because he was fine. 'I'm not a damn kid anymore'," Sanji mimicked Zoro. "So I didn't call him anymore. But I had no idea what he really was doing…" Sanji mumbled and tears started to fall on his cheeks.

"I had no idea that he would go to bar and hit on some random woman and bring her with him! I couldn't even think that he would HAVE SEX with some random chick! In our house! In the same bed where we used to sleep in!" Sanji started to sob hard and almost dropped his wine glass. Usopp managed to catch it just in time.

Sanji buried his face in his hands and sobbed. Usopp wrapped his arms around Sanji's shaking shoulders and hugged him, letting him cry all the bad feelings away. Usopp felt sorry for Sanji. Zoro hurt him pretty bad, in the worst way. When Sanji calmed down a little bit Usopp spoke out.

"Sanji, I'm so sorry. I had no idea… But I'm glad that you told me about it. You don't need to suffer alone. We all will help you to get over this," Usopp said quietly and rubbed Sanji's back.

Sanji nodded and dried his eyes. "Thank you…" he whispered.

"No problem," Usopp smiled. "Everything will be alright, sooner or later. And we all are there for you","Usopp continued.

"Yeah…" Sanji mumbled, starting to doze off. The alcohol started to kick in more. He lay on the couch and was soon fast asleep.

Usopp stood up and turned the TV off. He spread a blanket over Sanji and went to the kitchen to make a couple of calls to his friends. He thought that it would be the best if they knew the real situation too. They decided that maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to force Sanji join them on Saturday. He can come when he's ready.

**BACK TO ZORO'S**

Before Zoro even knew it, it was already Saturday. He woke up earlier than usual. He made for himself a cup of coffee and a quick sandwich. After the small breakfast he went to have his usual morning jog.

It was still pretty early so there weren't so many people around. And that was fine by Zoro. He tried to take his thoughts away from that day but it was easier said than done. He constantly wondered that would Sanji be at Luffy's place too…

But soon Zoro snapped out of his thoughts when he realised that he had no idea where he was. He looked around and picked one random direction, continuing his jogging.

_'Damn roads, moving by themselves_…'

In the end Zoro found his way back home. He went to the bathroom and took a shower. His thoughts started wandering again. Sometimes he and Sanji used to take a shower together. It was really nice. And sometimes it led into something more… Zoro woke up from his fantasies when he noticed that he had "a manly problem" down there.

_'Shit… I got carried away…'_ Zoro sighed but decided to take care of his "problem".

After his satisfying shower Zoro lay on the couch, watching TV. Somewhere around 2.30pm the doorbell rang. Zoro stood up and dragged himself to the door and opened it.

"Zoroooo!" Luffy yelled and bumped into him.

"Oi! Watch out!" Zoro grunted and pushed Luffy off of him.

"Luffy calm down. We need Zoro alive today," chuckled a black-haired man behind Luffy. Ace came to pick up Zoro too. For some reason he had a little frown on.

"Can we go now? I'm hungry," Luffy whined, causing Ace to smack the back of his brother's head.

"I told you earlier that I want to speak with Zoro first. You even agreed with that so hold your horses", Ace sighed and walked inside too, closing the door.

"What do you want to talk about?" Zoro asked, looking confused. But he had an idea what was coming.

"We need to talk about Sanji," Luffy and Ace said in unison. Even Luffy was serious now.

Zoro groaned and sat on the couch, gesturing the two brothers sit down too.

"There's nothing to talk about," Zoro said and looked away, avoiding Ace's eyes.

"No, there is. You're an idiot!" Ace said, almost yelling. Zoro flinched at the sudden change of his friend's tone.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Zoro lied, trying to act cool.

"Oh, you know perfectly well what I'm talking about! What on Earth were you thinking when you decide to fuck some other woman?! I thought that you and Sanji were in love with each other!" Ace said, raising his voice a little bit. He was so pissed off because his friend did something that stupid.

Zoro started to get angry. It was enough that the shit-cook blamed him but now his friends too! And how did they even know about that? Zoro hadn't told a single soul what really happened.

"How do you even know about this?! Did that shit-cook come to you and cry on your shoulder, huh?!" Zoro snapped. Okay, that sounded a bit cruel. He was the one who cheated on Sanji after all. But still!

"Hey, nobody cried on my shoulder!" Ace said firmly.

"Usopp called me two days ago and told me. He said that Sanji finally talked about things that happened. Usopp said that it would be better if we knew too. Sanji is all broken down…" Luffy spoke out. He has been quiet until this. Now he had a serious expression on which showed worry and a bit of disappointment.

"Oh…" was all what Zoro could say at the moment.

"So what were you thinking? Don't you like Sanji anymore? Luffy added.

"Of course I like him! It was a mistake, okay?! I was drunk and it just happened. I already apologised like hundred times. Everybody makes mistakes. If he can't understand that then there's nothing I can do," Zoro explained. Of course he wanted that Sanji would understand and forgive him, or at least talk to him.

"You just have to try harder. Your mistake was pretty big so you need to do big things to fix it up. So do you really love him?" Ace said this time.

"Yes, I love him…" Zoro said, calming down a little bit.

"Well that's all I wanted to hear. We will help you to fix this up," Ace said now smiling and patted Zoro's back. Luffy was also grinning again. Zoro had to smile too. It was good to know that his friends were willing to help him.

After their little man-to-man conversation all three of t,hem drove to Ace and Luffy's apartment. When they arrived Zoro noticed that others were already there, excluding Brook, Franky… and Sanji…

They gathered into the living room. Usopp told that Brook had some concert, Franky was sick and Sanji had to be at work. But Zoro had a feeling that Sanji just didn't want to come.

Before they started their movie marathon Nami lectured Zoro with a heavy fist. Zoro had to listen more ranting about how idiot he was and etc. But in the end they all promised to help him with his "Sanji-problem". They were going to help both of them because without their help Zoro and Sanji would probably just mess things up even more.

Who knows, maybe everything will turn out well after all.

_**~~ To be continued ~~**_

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**Beta read by ringtailedpheonix**


	3. Chapter 3

_Ah, sorry for making you wait for this chapter. I was rather busy with my school stuff and when I had some free time, I had no energy nor motivation to write. Sorry~ ^^'' But now the new chapter is up! So just read it and hope you like it.~_

_And I don't own One Piece._

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It was 11pm on Saturday night. A silver Toyota drove through the city centre. Teenagers were hanging out in the corners of big buildings and a bit older ones headed to bars and night clubs. A man behind the steering wheel of the Toyota stared at the road with tired eyes. He was exhausted after a long day at work.

Sanji had asked his boss, Zeff, to give him an extra shift today. He needed some reason to not join his friends tonight. He wasn't ready to confront Zoro. Not yet… Zeff was more than willing to let Sanji work because it was an extremely busy day at the Baratie. And thanks to that Sanji didn't have time to think about his problems.

10 minutes later, Sanji arrived at the parking lot next to the building where Usopp and Chopper lived. He sighed and tried to relax his stiff muscles. It had been a long week but tomorrow he was going to hang out with Ace. Sanji really needed something else to do; he was tired of crying after Zoro.

Sanji's thoughts drifted to Zoro once again. It was still painful to remember all what happened between them. He couldn't help it but he still loved Zoro even though he didn't want to. He didn't want to love that bastard!

Soon Sanji snapped back to the reality when his stomach growled. _'Hmm… Maybe I should go to make some evening snacks,'_ he thought and climbed out of the car. Sanji locked the doors and turned around to head inside. But then he froze.

Usopp was walking to the parking lot… with Zoro…

_'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit..!'_ was Sanji's only thought at the moment. He hoped that the dirty asphalt could just swallow him right there and now.

_'What is he doing here?!'_ Sanji panicked.

And like reading his thoughts Usopp came up to him with Zoro right behind him. Usopp smiled and greeted Sanji: "Oh hey Sanji! You're back already. I promised to take Zoro home since Ace already fell asleep. And you know, Luffy isn't allowed to use his car," Usopp chuckled.

"Um, yeah. I was allowed to leave earlier… I'll go inside and make us some snacks…" Sanji mumbled and tried to walk quickly away, not even looking at Zoro. This was the first time that they had met after their break up.

"Hey cook! Wait a sec," Zoro said quickly and grabbed Sanji's wrist. He turned Sanji around so he was facing him.

Sanji froze when he felt Zoro's strong grip around his wrist. He quickly yanked his hand away, frowning. Sanji glared at Zoro with a questioning look. "What the fuck do you want?!" he snarled.

Zoro frowned at Sanji's attitude. That ero-cook was trying to put up a fight right away. "I just wanted to ask how were you doing but I suppose you don't give a shit. So forget it!" Zoro waved Sanji off and walked to Usopp's car. Usopp was already sitting in it, not wanting to disturb the two ex-lovers.

"That's right, I couldn't care less! And like you would actually care about how I'm doing. Muscleheads like you usually think just their own good. You have already proved that," Sanji said coldly. Zoro flinched at those words. The cook was saying that he, Zoro, was selfish while he was the one bitching around.

"You don't have a right to call me selfish! You don't even want to try sort this out. You just think your own sorry ass and how you got hurt! But what about me?! Do you have any idea how I feel?! But of course you don't care because you're the mister perfection!" Zoro almost yelled, walking closer to Sanji. He was starting to get pissed. But he wasn't the only one; Sanji was boiling in anger too.

"Why are you blaming me like this is all my fault?! You're the one who cheated on me! But well, maybe it is my fault, maybe I just wasn't enough for your horny ass," Sanji spat out.

"Don't give me that shit! I know what I did was wrong, and I already said many times that I'm sorry. So it's up to you now," Zoro stated matter-of-factly.

"Do you really think that a couple of your sorrys are enough?! You can put your apologies up your ass!" Sanji yelled. He didn't want to have anything to do with Zoro anymore.

"FINE! Be an idiot!" Zoro snapped and went to the car, slamming the door shut. Sanji didn't stay to look at the car leave. He ran straight inside, slamming the door too, not caring what neighbours were thinking.

Zoro was sitting silently in the car, trying to calm his nerves. Usopp looked warily at Zoro and started the car. It would take about 15 minutes to drive to Zoro's place. Usopp sighed. "Well, that was smooth…"

"Just shut the fuck up. I did nothing wrong!" Zoro snapped. Goodbye calm nerves…

"Well you could have handled the situation a bit better," Usopp stated,not taking his eyes off from the road.

"Well I tried but that shit cook made it impossible to act calm!" Zoro huffed. Sanji's attitude really pissed him off. He didn't need Usopp's scolding right now. He just wanted to get home, drink some beer and relax. And more over; forget Sanji.

"Whatever…" Usopp mumbled. "But we really should think of some ways to fix your relationship," he continued. Zoro just grunted and stared out of the window. The rest of the ride was silent.

After 30 minutes, Zoro was back home, sitting on the couch with a bottle of cold beer in his hand. He was still a bit upset because of the encounter with Sanji. He turned the radio on, hoping that music could help him relax. But he regretted that right after the next song started to play.

Zoro slammed the radio off instantly when the song started, almost with too much force. _'Shit, not that song!'_ It brought too many memories… That song was the one which played in the background when Zoro and Sanji shared their very first kiss together; the sad love song full of desperate feelings. They were in a pub with their friends. They both drank too much alcohol but it made it easier to confess and well, kiss…

Zoro gulped down the rest of his beer and headed to the bedroom. He changed into his sweatpants and stretched his muscles a little bit before he went to the bed. He laid on the bed for awhile wondering whether or not things would ever get back to normal between him and Sanji. One part of Zoro wanted Sanji back so bad it hurt but the other part didn't want to admit that he missed his blonde cook. Unfortunately the later one was taking the control at the moment.

Frustrated because of his thoughts Zoro slowly drifted into a dreamless sleep, not knowing that at the same time Sanji was suffering from insomnia, once again.

The next morning Sanji woke up later than usual, he had a day off after all. But the other reason was that he didn't get too much sleep. Last nights events kept playing on his mind, refusing to let him rest. He was really frustrated that he couldn't just brush it off. He hoped that this day with Ace would help a little bit.

Sanji looked around him. He glanced at the clock; it showed 11am. _'Wow, I really slept in. That means that Usopp and Chopper have already left'_, Sanji thought and stood up, stretching his sore muscles. A couch wasn't the best place to sleep on but it couldn't be helped. At least he had some place to stay.

Sanji walked to the bathroom and took a long and relaxing shower. He was actually pretty excited about the up-coming evening. He hasn't seen Ace in ages. They both were always so busy. Ace was Sanji's only childhood friend who he still was contacted with. And thanks to Ace, Sanji got to meet all his other friends, including Zoro…

Sanji stood in the shower almost for half an hour. After that he walked lazily to the kitchen and started cooking late breakfast. He decided to spend his day reading some cooking books. It was always good to learn new recipes. And someday he wanted to open his very own restaurant; it had been his biggest dream since he was a little boy.

At 6pm Sanji was ready to head to the nearest bar. It was a warm summer night and the city was full of people talking and laughing happily. Sanji strolled lazily through the city. He didn't bother to take his car because the bar wasn't that far away and he was going to drink anyway.

When Sanji arrived to the bar it was pretty crowded but he managed to find his way to an empty table. He looked around the place; there were many groups on friends, young couples and a few loners. Sanji took his phone out of the jacket's pocket and checked the time; Ace was already 20 minutes late. _'Oh, don't tell me that he fell asleep'_, Sanji thought and went to buy something to drink.

After half an hour had passed Sanji's phone beeped. It was a text message from Ace.

_'Sorry bro, can't come to the bar tonight. I got something else to do. Let's try some other day. Try to find some company. ;) –Ace'_

"Oh screw you…" Sanji mumbled and put his phone away. He knew too well what Ace's "something else" meant: he was getting laid. _'Well, I guess I can stay here for awhile. I don't have anything else to do anyway,'_ Sanji sighed and went to buy another drink.

While Sanji was enjoying his drink, a red haired man eyed him from the other side of the bar. Sanji didn't notice this because he was too busy staring at his glass. The red head stood up and came up to Sanji.

"May I sit here?" the man asked in a surprisingly soft voice. This made Sanji lift his head to see who was talking. In front of him was standing a tall and a bit muscular man. He was pretty pale, paler that Sanji. And he had bright red hair and… orange eyes.

"Um, sure. Go ahead," Sanji managed to say. He was still confused because of this man's appearance.

"So, did you get dumped or what?" the man asked, sitting down. He had a playful grin on his face. It made Sanji grin too.

"Yeah, you can say that. My friend was supposed to join me but he got something else to do. So I decided to stay for awhile," Sanji explained. "So why are you here? Hitting on someone?" Sanji asked with a smirk on his face.

"Heh, you wish. I'm just hanging out, enjoying my last free moments before I start my new job," the man said and sipped his beer.

"Oh, congratulations for that. May I ask where you're going to be working?" Sanji asked.

"At a restaurant, Baratie was its name. I'm gonna be the new bartender there," the man answered, leaning his back on his chair and stretching his arms.

Sanji's eyes widened. "Really?! I'm working there too! I'm a chef there," he said excitedly. "I heard that we are going to get a new bartender. But man, am I lucky that I got to meet him beforehand. You're starting in two days, right?"

"That's so cool! It's nice to meet you, Mr. Chef," the red head grinned and bowed his head playfully. "Actually I start tomorrow," he continued. "And since we're going to work at the same place, can I know your name?"

"Yeah, I'm Sanji. What about you?" Sanji said, smiling kindly.

"I'm Satoshi. It's my pleasure to work with you, Sanji-san", Satoshi smiled.

"Oh, just call me Sanji. Well yeah, it's nice to work with a guy with such interesting eyes. Do you wear contact lenses or something?" Sanji said and drank the last few drops of his drink.

"No, this is my natural eye colour," Satoshi said like it was completely normal to have orange eyes.

"Eh?! Well that's weird," Sanji shrugged.

"Says the man who has a swirly eyebrow," Satoshi snorted, grinning widely.

"O-Oi! Shut up! I get to hear enough shit about my eyebrows…" Sanji said, raising his voice a bit. Luckily Satoshi didn't notice that Sanji was blushing a little bit. Maybe it was because of the alcohol or the comment just affected Sanji that much.

Satoshi laughed softly._ 'This guy seems interesting.'_

"So, do you live here nearby?" Satoshi asked and drank the rest of his beer.

"Yeah, it takes like 20 minutes to walk there. But it isn't actually my own apartment… I'm staying at my friend's place for awhile…" Sanji said and tried to act natural but his face showed sadness. And Satoshi noticed this. He tilted his head and stared at Sanji with questioning eyes.

"Have some problems at home or..?" Satoshi asked casually. He didn't want to seem too intrusive. Hell, he just met this guy. But still, he somehow felt really sorry for Sanji, seeing him that depressed.

Sanji didn't answer right away. He stared at his empty glass and wondered if he could tell this guy. What if Satoshi, his new co-worker, would just run away after hearing about Sanji's life. That he is, no, was in a relationship with a man. But on the other hand Satoshi didn't look like the kind of person who would freak out that easily. He came up to Sanji after all and was almost… flirty… Sanji shook his head. No, that was just his own imagination.

Sanji sighed. "Yeah, kinda… I just broke up with my lover so I needed to go somewhere else," Sanji said with a sad tone.

"Oh, I'm sorry Sanji," Satoshi said, and he really meant it. "So, did your girl get mad at you and throw you out?" he continued, smirking slightly. Satoshi's smirk made Sanji smirk too, for some odd reason.

"Well actually it was my boyfriend," Sanji said and examined Satoshi's expression. But there wasn't any special reaction. Sanji sighed mentally in relief.

"Ah, I see. So your boyfriend threw you out. What did you do?" Satoshi said_. 'Oh, so Sanji is gay, or at least bi. I was right', he thought grinning mentally._

"No, I was willing to leave. He cheated on me," Sanji stated bluntly. This made Satoshi's grin die really fast.

"Hey, I'm really sorry to hear that. I had no idea. Sorry for joking about it…"

"It's fine, really. I think that I just need to get over it. I'm tired of being sad and all that shit. I want to continue my life," Sanji said firmly. Yes, he really needed to continue his life. He couldn't be miserable for the rest of his life just because of Zoro's actions.

"That's the spirit! This world is full of singles, you just need to pick one," Satoshi grinned and then slammed his hand on the table. "I'll buy you a drink, to celebrate your new and fresh start," he said and went to buy drinks for both of them.

A couple of drinks later Satoshi and Sanji decided that it was time to go home. They both had to go to work tomorrow after all. They walked out of the crowded and rather noisy bar and stood in front of it for awhile, just chatting.

"Hey, I can walk you home!" Satoshi said out of the blue, causing Sanji to almost choke on his cigarette.

"Oh, there's no need to do that! I don't live that far away," Sanji rushed to say. He had a feeling that Satoshi had something on his mind.

Satoshi stared at Sanji's shocked face and then started to laugh. "Oh, don't get me wrong. I just thought that it would be nice to talk more with you. I'm not going to hit on you," he said, still chuckling in amusement when he looked at Sanji's embarrassed face.

"I-I knew that," Sanji stuttered. Okay, he was wrong. Satoshi seemed like a really nice guy so he agreed to walk with him.

They talked about their hobbies, friends and simply just got to know each other better. Sanji also told some of the main things about Baratie. Soon they arrived in front of Usopp and Chopper's apartment. They stood the front yard and exchanged their phone numbers.

"I had a really great time with you, thanks for that. I didn't need to spend the whole evening all alone," Sanji said smiling. He hasn't felt this happy and warm inside for a long time. He knew that Satoshi was going to be a good friend for him.

"Nah, no problem. I'm, glad that I managed to cheer you up," Satoshi replied, smiling too. "But now I have to go. See you tomorrow at work," he said and patted Sanji's shoulder.

Sanji said goodbye too and walked inside, smiling happily because of the newfound friendship. But however, he didn't had any idea that he had been observed while saying goodbye to Satoshi. Ace had drove past them and just looked at them smiling, happy to see that Sanji found some company.

_'Oh, he's so going to hear about that later,'_ Ace smirked evilly when he entered his apartment, seeing that Luffy had fell asleep in front of the TV, once again. _'But at least he looked happy,'_ he thought and turned the TV off and carried Luffy to his room.

**_~ ~ To be continued ~ ~_**

* * *

**Beta read by ringtailedpheonix**


	4. Chapter 4

_Woohoo!~ New chapter! I was wondering whether I should include some lemon into this story and if I get really excited and write lots of smut I will change the rating from T to M. But I'm not sure yet. Let's see what happens. Anyways, have fun reading this chapter!~_

_And I still don't own One Piece._

* * *

The next morning Sanji woke up early, ready to go to work. While he was in the shower he started to think about yesterday evening in the bar. Sanji felt really embarrassed because of it. He had ranted on about his personal life to some stranger. Well, that stranger was going to be his new co-worker, but still! They had just met! It wasn't like Sanji to act that way.

_'Maybe it's better that I keep a safe distance with that Satoshi guy. I made a complete fool of myself...'_

Sanji snapped out of his thoughts when someone knocked on the door.

"Sanji, I need to use the bathroom! I have to leave soon," Chopper said behind the door.

"Oh yeah, sorry! Just wait a sec," Sanji responded and stepped out of the shower. He dried himself quickly and glanced at the mirror. He was pale, as usual, and his golden hair was messy. Sanji fixed his hair and sprayed cologne on his neck. Then he walked out of the bathroom, letting Chopper come in.

"Ah, finally!" Chopper cried out and ran into the bathroom.

"Heh, sorry," Sanji chuckled softly. He got dressed quickly and drank one more cup of coffee.

Usopp walked into the kitchen looking really sleepy. He rubbed his eyes and tried to find his coffee cup. He managed to pour some coffee for himself and grabbed a couple of sandwiches which Sanji had made. He sat down next to Sanji and started to eat slowly. Sanji had stared at Usopp the whole time, a pretty amused look on his face.

"So, where were you last night? You weren't home when I came back," Sanji said, trying to hide his smirk behind his coffee cup.

Usopp blushed a bit and tried to hide it. "I-I just hung out with my friend... Nothing special..." Usopp stuttered and pretended to be really interested in his sandwich.

"Let me guess, that friend of yours was Kaya?" Sanji asked casually, making Usopp almost choke on his breakfast. Sanji started to laugh half-heartedly. "I guess I was right. So, did you have fun? What did you do?" he continued, not able to hide his smirk anymore.

"The great Usopp won't reveal his princess' secrets!" Usopp exclaimed proudly.

"Oh, so you are together with her!" Sanji cheered. "That's our Usopp!" Sanji stood up and left Usopp to mumble some unintelligent words to himself. "I'll go now. See you later," Sanji said and left for work.

_'Time to confront Satoshi...'_ Sanji thought while he drove to Baratie. Actually, he really didn't want to see the said man. It was just too awkward. But of course it was pretty hard to avoid him when they worked at the same place. Luckily Satoshi was going to work mainly in the bar area so they wouldn't see that much of each other.

When Sanji arrived at the Baratie, he walked straight into the dressing room and changed into his cook uniform. He looked at the mirror to make sure that his hair wasn't too messy. He looked pretty good in that outfit; it showed what he really loved to do and that's why Sanji wore it with pride.

Sanji was just about to leave the room and go to the kitchen to check if everything was ready but then Satoshi rushed in.

"Ah, good morning Sanji!" Satoshi said happily. "How was the rest of your night?"

Sanji just stood there, trying to think of a good excuse to escape this awkward situation. "It was fine. Excuse me but I need to go now. I have to make sure that everything is ok in the kitchen. Hope you have a nice first day here," Sanji mumbled and left a rather confused Satoshi alone in the dressing room.

Throughout the whole day Sanji did his best to avoid Satoshi. He always made himself busy when Satoshi tried to come up to him. Sanji managed to do this pretty well until his last coffee break. Satoshi had a break at the same time. And when Satoshi came into the break room,Sanji stood up quickly, trying to leave. But he failed miserably. Satoshi blocked his way and stared at Sanji with a serious look.

"Why are you avoiding me?" Satoshi asked in a low voice.

"Tch. Don't imagine things. I'm not avoiding you, I have just been busy the whole day," Sanji lied through his teeth. _'Why are you blocking my way, you idiot?!'_ Sanji thought. He really wanted to leave!

"I'm not imagining things. I know you're trying to avoid me. I just want to know why," Satoshi said calmly with a stern look in his eyes. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you did nothing wrong..." Sanji mumbled, staring at the floor. He didn't dare look in Satoshi's orange eyes.

"Then what is it?! Please tell me. I promise I won't bother you after that," Satoshi sighed. He was really confused. Just yesterday Sanji was all buddy-buddy with him and now... now he acted like he hated him.

"I just..." Sanji mumbled. Should he really just tell him what the problem was? Sanji bet that Satoshi already thought he was just some weird and desperate guy. Maybe telling the truth wouldn't make the situation much worse... Sanji sighed. He was going to tell the truth.

"So um... It's just about yesterday evening... It isn't like me to open up about my personal life to strangers right after I meet them. And last night I started ranting about my problems... So in other words, I thought it would be best to avoid you because I know that I made you feel awkward and all... So yeah, that's the thing..."

Satoshi stared at Sanji with wide eyes for a moment and then chuckled. "Did you really think that you could make me feel awkward that easily?" Satoshi finally said, still chuckling softly. "Although I really thought that we were becoming friends. And I don't quite understand your logic but of course if you want, I won't bother you anymore. It's up to you," he continued, smiling his soft smile.

Sanji was taken aback. He didn't expect Satoshi to react this way. Maybe Sanji just overreacted. But he really wasn't going to open up to strangers again anytime soon. And next time when he would go to a bar he would make sure that someone was really going with him.

"You don't have to do that," Sanji said, still staring at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"So would you like us to make a fresh start and forget what happened yesterday?" Satoshi asked. He really hoped that Sanii would give a new chance to their (hopefully) growing friendship.

"Sure, that would be nice," Sanji said. This time he looked up at Satoshi and grinned widely.

"That's great then!" Satoshi cheered and grinned too. "But hey, I think I have to go back to work now. I still need to learn some things," he said and waved at Sanji, walking out of the room.

_'Well that went well,' _Sanji hummed happily. He also walked out of the break room and headed to the office. He needed to start planning a new side menu. It was Sanji's job to create a new "theme menu" every once in a while; it brought a refreshing change to Baratie which also brought new customers. This time Sanji was going to create a small but rich theme menu which included traditional Japanese food.

Sanji searched through the bookshelf where they kept all their recipe books. After checking all the books about two times he cursed under his breath. He couldn't find the books he wanted to use. Sanji went to ask his co-workers if they had taken the books but they hadn't seen them.

_'Where the hell are they?! I really need them now...'_ Sanji frowned and sat down in his office chair. And then it hit him. He had left those books at Zoro's place. Zoro had given them to Sanji as a Christmas present last year. _'God damn it... Why did I leave them there..?'_ Sanji cursed in his mind while he picked up his phone and dialed Usopp's number.

"Hello?" Usopp answered.

"Hey Usopp. Could you do a favor for me? I need a couple of recipe books and they are at Zoro's place so could you go grab them for me?" Sanji asked as nicely as he could.

"Sorry Sanji but I have to stay at uni the whole evening. We have this big project and it's due n two days so I really need to stay with others and finish it. Could it wait until tomorrow?" Usopp replied. Sanji could hear a tapping noise so he guessed that Usopp was already working on something on his laptop.

"Well I actually need them today so..." Sanji said, already losing hope.

"Well then you have to go and get them by yourself, sorry. Oh, I have to go now, see you later," Usopp said and hung up.

"Well shit... Now I really have to go there..." Sanji mumbled to himself. All his friends were at work as well or had something else to do. Well, Nami was spending her summer vacation now but Sanj would never bother his lovely Nami-swan with something like this. He sighed in frustration and decided to just go to his old home after work. He was going to finish earlier anyway so if he was lucky he could manage to grab the books before Zoro came home.

The rest of his work day went fast because of all the work Sanji had to do. Baratie was going to be extremely busy for a couple of weeks because of the summer season. Before Sanji knew it, it was time to call it a day and go home. He said goodbye to his co-workers, including Satoshi. He rushed all around the changing room and drove quickly to his old apartment, almost breaking the speed limits. He just wanted to get this over and done with.

Soon Sanji arrived at the familiar parking lot and almost ran inside the building. He rang the door bell. He waited for a moment and rang it again; still no answer. Sanji sighed in relief and took his keys and opened the door. He looked around the apartment just to make sure that Zoro really wasn't home yet; and he wasn't.

The apartment was a little bit messy but not as bad as Sanji had thought it would be. Sanji was always the one who cleaned up their apartment but usually he forced Zoro to help him. Sanji didn't want him to just sit on his lazy ass while Sanji did all the work. And they also had this weird habit to have some "bedroom activities" right after cleaning the apartment. Sanji couldn't even remember why they did it always like that. It was just some old habit, almost like a routine.

Sanji quickly walked into the living room and started looking through the bookshelf. After a couple minutes he found what he was looking for: two Japanese recipe books. He grabbed them and was just about to turn around and leave the apartment when the front door opened... and Zoro walked in.

They both froze when they saw each other. Zoro dropped his sword case on the floor and walked slowly into the living room where Sanji stood squeezing his books so hard that his knuckles turned white.

"You-You came back," Zoro said warily and walked closer to Sanji, hoping that he wouldn't run away from him.

Sanji remained silent for a moment. He tried to stay calm but he was actually panicking like crazy. He didn't know what to do. But then he decided to put the end to all this.

"Like hell. I just came to grab a couple of my books. I need them for work," Sanji snorted. He was still squeezing his fingers tightly around the books. The tone of Sanji's answer made Zoro frown.

"So you still aren't able to talk about things like an adult, huh?" Zoro said and crossed his arms on his chest.

"Actually I am. I also wanted to tell you that I'm going to search for a new apartment. So you can keep this one," Sanji said firmly. For some reason, it hurt to say those words but Sanji brushed it off and looked at Zoro's shocked face.

"What?! Why?!" Zoro yelled. His face turned pale and he felt a sick feeling in his gut. He had really thought that Sanji had come back to sort things out. And with that he meant to make things better. He definitely didn't expect this.

"You heard me. It's time to move on. It's better this way," Sanji said quietly, staring at the books in his hands. This situation made his heart ache but he didn't care about that. This needed to be done sooner or later, and it was better to do now.

Zoro didn't look too happy. He felt the anger trying to take control but he controlled himself and just sat down on the couch and turned the TV on, pretending that he didn't notice Sanji's presence at all. Sanji stared at Zoro with a confused look.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Sanji finally snapped. Oh, how he wanted to punch that stupid moss head right now.

"Watching TV, are you blind or something?" Zoro stated, not taking his eyes away from the TV-screen. This made Sanji growl a bit.

"Forget it! I'll just let you know when I come to take the rest of my things. I'll try to find a new apartment as soon as possible," Sanji sighed and started to walk away.

"Whatever... Do what you want..." Zoro grunted from the couch while he switched channels, trying to find something interesting to watch. Sanji looked over his shoulder at Zoro, who was now deeply interested in some soap opera and didn't pay any attention to Sanji. Sanji didn't say anything else and walked out of the apartment, leaving Zoro alone with his TV.

Sanji felt sad but he knew it was better this way. He could continue his life now. And he really needed to find a new apartment; he couldn't stay with Usopp and Chopper forever. And their couch was killing his back anyway.

Sanji drove back to Baratie. He was going to start planning the menu right away now that he had his books back. He didn't care that his boss, and foster-dad, Zeff would probably yell at him for working too much. Sanji just wanted to do his job. It helped him to calm down and sort out his thoughts.

* * *

After Sanji had closed the door of Zoro's apartment, Zoro took a deep breath and buried his face in his hands. He never expected things to take this kind of turn. No, he actually had hoped that maybe after some time passed Sanji would calm down and come back to him. Although, Zoro would never admit that he hoped that.

_'I guess I was wrong all the time. He really won't come back...'_ Zoro thought and stared at the TV-screen, not really following the crazy soap opera. It was full of drama between current and ex-lovers. _'And I always thought that that shit would never happen in real life.'_

Zoro turned the TV off and went to get himself ready for his training session. Extreme training always got his thoughts away from his personal problems. He was going to become a kendo master, the greatest swordsman, so some stupid love-life problem couldn't take his concentration away from his biggest dream.

* * *

Days passed and Sanji was feeling better and better. It was actually a good thing to confront Zoro and say what he was going to do. Of course it hurt to do so, they had been together for two years after all, but now he could make a fresh start.

He was really busy with his work for the past few days but he always tried to find some time for his friends. And speaking of friends, Sanji was becoming closer and closer with Satoshi. They were already really good friends. Sanji had introduced Satoshi to his other friends and they all got along really well. Sanji was feeling happy again.

Zoro on the other hand wasn't too happy. He was grumpier than usual and trained harder, if that was even possible. He even asked his rival, the current kendo master, the greatest swordsman, Dracule Mihawk to train him. All his friends were pretty shocked after hearing this. Ace even said that Zoro was becoming a masochist. But Zoro didn't care. He just wanted to get stronger.

Two weeks after Sanji's big news, Zoro was heading to the dojo once again, carrying his sword case. He decided to take a shortcut and walk through the park.

Zoro was in the middle of the park when he took his phone out of his pocket to check the time_. 'Shit, I'm already late. Mihawk is going to kill me.' _Zoro cursed in his mind and shoved the phone back into his pocket. He lifted his gaze from the path and immediately wished that he wouldn't have done that. The sight before him made him freeze.

In front of him were walking two people, one of them was Sanji and the other one was some red head who Zoro didn't recognise. They were laughing and talking about something. The redhead said something funny which made Sanji laugh full-heartedly.

Zoro just stood there, boiling in anger. He felt the rage growing inside him. That bastard was walking beside HIS man! Zoro stared with a furious look at the two men and walked quickly towards them.

_'That little fucker!'_

* * *

**Beta read by ringtailedpheonix**


	5. Chapter 5

_I'm sorry if/that this chapter is a bit rushed and boring. I just wanted it quickly over and done with because I REALLY want to start working on the 6th chapter. Hehe... But anyways! Have fun!~_

_And I don't own One Piece._

* * *

_'That little fucker!'_

Zoro came up to Sanji and Satoshi. Sanji noticed him and was shocked to see what he did. Zoro pushed Satoshi forcefully away from Sanji. Satoshi almost lost his balance but managed to grab a tree branch just before he fell over.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, you fucker?!" Zoro growled. Satoshi couldn't say anything, he just stared at Zoro with wide eyes.

"What the fuck are YOU doing?!" Sanji yelled at Zoro. "What gives you the right to come here and abuse other people?" Sanji was furious. He knew that Zoro was a complete ass sometimes but never did he think that he would do something like this.

Zoro glared from the red head to Sanji. He was boiling in rage. "Who is that bastard?" Zoro yelled and pointed at Satoshi who slowly walked closer to Sanji and Zoro. People in the park were either staring at them or quickly walked away, not wanting to get in trouble.

"There's no reason to get your panties twisted. My name is Satoshi and I'm Sanji's co-worker and friend. I'm a bartender at the Baratie," Satoshi said in a low voice, hoping that Zoro would calm down. He didn't want someone to call the police.

Zoro gave Satoshi a death glare. "I don't give a shit what you're doing for living! Just stay away from Sanji, he isn't meant for you!" Zoro kept yelling. He didn't care if people were staring at him.

"Oh, and whom am I meant for? For you? Don't make me laugh!" Sanji snarled and took a step closer to Zoro.

And then Satoshi did something that he should not have done. He put his hand on Sanji's shoulder and pulled him away from Zoro, closer to himself. "Hey Sanji, let's go…" he said quietly.

Then Zoro snapped completely. He took a couple of fast steps, coming right in front of Satoshi. And the next moment Zoro's fist hit Satoshi's jaw, hard. Satoshi fell on the ground, holding his jaw and staring at Zoro in terror.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HIM! IS THAT CLEAR?!" Zoro exploded. He clenched his fists so hard that his nails dug into his palms painfully.

And then it was Sanji's turn to make a move. He kicked Zoro's shin so hard that Zoro lost his balance. He fell to his knees and glared at Sanji, holding his stinging shin.

"What was that for?!" Zoro grunted. Sanji looked down at him furiously.

"Don't act like you didn't deserve it! Your head really is full of moss. I can't believe you…" Sanji growled. He went to help Satoshi stand up and he checked his friend's jaw. It was already swollen and a big nasty bruise started to form on it. "Are you ok? Do we have to go see a doctor?" Sanji asked worriedly.

Satoshi opened his mouth a couple of times to check if his jaw was ok. It hurt a lot but it would dull eventually. "No, there's no need to do that. I'm fine," he said and glared at Zoro who was still on the ground. "And I'm guessing that this guy is your ex."

"Unfortunately…" Sanji sighed. He walked closer to Zoro and watched him stand up. Zoro's stare was as hard as Sanji's. They looked at each other for a moment before Sanji spoke out.

"What is your problem? You were never this jealous so why now when we aren't even together anymore?" Sanji questioned. He felt like he didn't know Zoro anymore. First he cheated on Sanji and now he randomly punched other people. Sanji had to admit, he was a bit disappointed.

But of course Zoro thought that there was nothing wrong with his actions. He was just trying to protect Sanji from that red haired bastard.

"Well?" Sanji asked, demanding to get some answers from Zoro.

"I just felt like it. That shithead deserved it. Trying to be all flirty with you…" Zoro stated bluntly. He didn't regret what he did.

"It's none of your business who flirts with me or not! I suggest you go now. And make sure that you won't get near to Satoshi ever again," Sanji said coldly.

"Gladly. I don't want to see that eyesore ever again," Zoro said. And with that he picked up his sword case and walked away, not looking behind him.

Sanji watched Zoro to walk away and then turned to Satoshi. "I'm so, so sorry about all this! I don't know what went into him…" Sanji exclaimed. He was really embarrassed because of Zoro's little "outburst". Why did Zoro act that way? Well, Sanji knew that Zoro was a bit hotheaded sometimes but still. Zoro was only ever this over-protective if his friends were in trouble. But Sanji wasn't in trouble; he was just hanging out with his friend. So was Zoro just jealous?

"Hey, it's not your fault. You weren't the one who punched me, so don't apologise for him," Satoshi said calmly and put his hand on Sanji's shoulder, trying to comfort him."I'm fine, so no need to worry," he smiled. "But you should keep some distance from your ex, just in case. I don't want him hurting you too," Satoshi's expression became serious.

Sanji's eyes widened when he heard the last sentence. No, Zoro wouldn't hurt him physically, never. Sanji was sure about that. Zoo might have hurt him mentally but never would he hit Sanji. Well if you didn't count their sparring matches, that is.

"You don't need to worry about me, really. That marimo might be an idiot but he wouldn't hurt me like that. And I can defend myself," Sanji said, grinning. He and Zoro used to have sparring matches often. It was fun and a good way to train; Zoro fought with swords and Sanji used his mixed style of kick boxing, taekwondo and capoeira. Swords vs. legs… Sanji smiled at the old memories but then Satoshi dragged him back to reality.

"Well didn't he cheat on you?" Satoshi asked and gave Sanji a stern look.

"Yeah…" Sanji said quietly.

"Then he did hurt you. And you can never know when it can turn violent. You really shouldn't see him anymore, that's my advice," Satoshi said, crossing his arms. He really didn't want Sanji to get in trouble because of his insane ex-boyfriend. He was sure that Sanji didn't want to see Zoro ever again. But to Satoshi's surprise his comment made Sanji frown.

Sanji glared at Satoshi with a frown. Something snapped inside him when he heard Satoshi talk like that about Zoro. He didn't know Zoro!

"Don't talk about him like that!" Sanji said, raising his voice a bit. He was still giving Satoshi an angry glare. Satoshi looked back at Sanji with a confused look. He didn't get why Sanji was standing for Zoro.

"Of course I'll talk like that! He's freakin' crazy! He hit me! And cheated on you! You're my friend and I want to protect you!" Satoshi yelled. This made people stare at them again but neither Satoshi nor Sanji didn't care.

"Shut the fuck up! He's not crazy! And I don't need your shitty protection, thank you very much!" Sanji yelled back. He didn't know where this all rage was coming from and why. He was just really pissed off because with Satoshi. He didn't actually understand his feelings; he still hated Zoro, right?

Satoshi was shocked to hear Sanji yelling at him. They hadn't known each other that long but they had become really close friends, or that's what he thought… He liked Sanji very much and didn't want him to get hurt.

"Why are you yelling at me like that..? I was just trying to help you," Satoshi said in a sad voice. He stared at Sanji's one visible blue eye and felt some weird feeling in his gut. Usually it was a nice and warm feeling but now it was just uncomfortable.

"Well I don't need your help!" Sanji snapped and turned around to walk away. He managed to take just a few steps before he felt strong fingers wrapping themselves around his wrist. Satoshi stopped Sanji and turned him around.

"Wh-Where are you going? What about that movie we were going to watch?" Satoshi stuttered.

"You can go by yourself. I need to be alone now…" Sanji replied, yanking his hand away from Satoshi's grip. And then Sanji stormed away, leaving a confused and sad Satoshi in the park.

* * *

A wooden sword hit the ground as its holder dropped it and fell on the floor as well. Zoro panted heavily and gritted his teeth, trying to force himself up. He had been training for two hours and his body was already bruised and sore. Zoro grabbed his training sword, bokken, and stood up with shaky legs. Then he attacked again… and fell on the floor, again…

"Concentrate Roronoa," said the man before him. The said man was holding a bokken as well and his yellow eyes looked at Zoro with a disapproving look.

"Shut it, Mihawk! I am concentrating!" Zoro spat out as he tried to stand up again.

"No, you're not. Your body is here but your mind is somewhere else. I can't train you if you don't keep your mind with you as well," Mihawk stated and watched Zoro struggle with his shaky legs.

"I just had a bad day, okay?! Now let's continue," Zoro snapped and positioned his bokken in a fighting stance. Today he was told to practice with one sword but he preferred three. It was his style.

"Then we won't continue anymore today," Mihawk said and went to put his bokken away.

"What the hell?! We were just getting started!" Zoro yelled. _'Why does that old man want to finish already?!'_

"Come back when you have sorted out your problems. Until then, I won't train you. You're dismissed," Mihawk said calmly, getting ready to leave.

"Wha-? But I don't ha-"

"No buts! I don't have time to watch your pathetic struggling what you call fighting. I can sense that something is bothering you and disturbing your spirit. So now just go and come back in a couple of days. I really hope I don't need to get disappointed again," Mihawk stated in his usual cold and stern voice. Then he walked off, leaving the still lightly panting Zoro alone in the training room.

"Fuck this shit!" Zoro roared and threw his bokken across the room. He sat down on the bamboo floor and leaned his sweaty back on the wall. He dried the sweat off of his face and took a big gulp from his water bottle. Zoro knew very well that Mihawk was right; he wasn't able to get his head in the game, or in the fight in this case. He was still really upset after seeing that red head with Sanji. That asshole dared to lay his fingers on Sanji…

_'Shit… Am I really that jealous? This is just so stupid,'_ Zoro thought. _'And now he is even more pissed off, if that's even possible.'_

Zoro's thoughts were cut short when he felt his phone vibrating beside him, next to his training bag. He picked it up and groaned. The witch was calling.

"What do you want?" was Zoro's answer.

"Hey, you should at least pretend to be polite sometimes," Nami said over the phone. Zoro could hear the annoyance in her voice.

"Shut up. Just tell me what you want from me," Zoro said with a sigh.

"Come to Luffy's right away. We are waiting for you here," Nami said quickly and hung up. But before she hung up Zoro could hear Luffy's voice asking if Zoro was coming.

Zoro let out a heavy sigh and went to take a shower. He got himself ready and then headed to Luffy and Ace's apartment.

_'Damn, and I wanted to take a nap…'_

* * *

As Zoro stepped into Luffy and Ace's apartment he was greeted with a hit across the head. The hit came from Nami.

"What the fuck was that for?!" Zoro yelled at Nami, rubbing the sore spot in his head.

"For being an idiot! I saw what you did today. Why would you punch Satoshi? He's Sanji's friend and a nice guy," Nami said. Oh, she was so going to lecture Zoro about what he did.

"No, he's not a nice gu- Wait a minute… So you know that guy?" Zoro was going to yell back but then he took Nami's words in.

"Yes, Sanji introduced him to us. But that's not the point here. Why did you hit him?" Nami asked threateningly. At this point Ace, Luffy and Usopp had come behind her to hear Zoro's answer.

"He deserved it. He was trying to hit on Sanji," Zoro exclaimed.

"No he wasn't."

"Well maybe he was going to do that later! Who knows what kind of sick pervert that guy is?!" Zoro said, not really caring to explain his reasons. What's done is done and that's that.

"You do realise now Sanji is even angrier with you? How are you ever going to get him back if you go and punch every person who touches him? Stop being such a jealous moron," Nami sighed and rubbed her temples. She was getting really frustrated with him.

"I'm not jealous!" Zoro snapped. But unfortunately, a slight blush crept on his cheeks.

"Ohohoo! Yes you are!" Ace and Usopp cried out in unison, making Zoro feel even more uncomfortable.

"But hey, what if Satoshi really is interested in Sanji? They are pretty close after all. Doesn't it make it harder for Zoro to get back together with Sanji?" Luffy said out of the blue. Apparently he could say something vice sometimes too. This made others to shut their mouths. They all stared at each other and tried to think if that really was true.

"You have a point there…" Ace said quietly. "Zoro, if you want him back you have to do something as soon as possible."

"I know… I can think of something…" Zoro mumbled which caused Nami to look at him with a suspicious look. Zoro really wanted to fix this but he didn't know how. But he brushed it off and decided to enjoy the evening with his friends, playing video games and chatting.

* * *

When the next morning came Sanji woke up feeling down and grumpy. Yesterday's events at the park still pissed him off; Zoro hitting Satoshi and Satoshi's comments. For some odd reason Satoshi's mean words about Zoro made his blood boil. He thought that something was wrong with him; why else would Sanji feel sorry and stand for Zoro after all what he had done?

At work Sanji managed to avoid Satoshi successfully. Although Satoshi didn't even try to confront Sanji. He kept a safe distance to Sanji and just eyed him secretly when the other didn't notice.

Somewhere around 3pm it was Sanji's time to have his coffee break. He decided to drink a glass of refreshing ice tea in the restaurant area because there were just a few customers eating their late lunches.

Sanji let his eyes roam the restaurant, trying to find a nice place to sit. Suddenly his gaze landed at a certain person who was sitting at the table near the window.

"Robin-chwan!~ What gives me a pleasure to have you here today?~" Sanji said hearts in his eyes. Robin lifted her head to look up at Sanji and let out a small chuckle.

"Oh, I just came here to enjoy my lunch. And I suppose you're having your break now. Would you like to join me?" Robin said, gesturing at Sanji's ice tea glass.

"Yes, I would love to sit with my dearest angel," Sanji said in a sweet voice. He sat down opposite Robin and sipped his tea in comfortable silence. He was about to ask how Robin's day was so far but Robin was faster to open her mouth.

"Tell me Cook-san, how are things between you and Swordsman-san nowadays?"

Sanji wasn't expecting this question and almost choked on his ice tea.

"W-Why are you asking that, Robin-chwan?" Sanji managed to ask through his coughing.

"Just curious. I heard what happened yesterday," Robin stated casually. This made Sanji's face twist a little bit. Robin was quick to notice it. "I hope you wouldn't hold it against Swordsman-san. He just doesn't know how to show his emotions and affection, you should know that."

"I know that very well," Sanji sighed. "It's just his way of dealing with things I guess… But that's why he pisses me off so much!" he continued and ran his fingers through his golden locks in frustration.

"Does he really? Or is it just that you still care about him, no matter what you say?" Robin said and her usual mysterious smile formed on her lips. Sanji didn't respond to this but Robin's words made him think about all this. Maybe Zoro really just thought Sanji's best and tried to protect him. He did something bad to Sanji, that was a clear fact but still… Did Sanji still care about Zoro that much? That would actually explain why Sanji was so mad at Satoshi.

For the rest of the break Sanji talked with Robin about the up-coming summer festival and how Sanji was forced to be at work then; Baratie was going to be full of customers. Sanji also told about his plans to find a new apartment and Robin was willing to help him which actually surprised him.

Sanji's break came to its end and Robin also left back to her work. Unfortunately Sanji couldn't concentrate on his work too well. All the questions of him and Zoro kept distracting him time after time.

_'Damn, I really need to think about this… Otherwise I'm going to go insane…'_

* * *

** Beta read by ringtailedpheonix**


	6. Chapter 6

_Hello sweeties!~ The 6th chapter is here! Wohoo! First I want to thank for all the awesone reviews! And just thank you so much for reading/following/favouriting this story. It makes me extremely happy! ^^_

_And I still don't own One Piece._

* * *

Zoro felt someone poking his cheek, poking once and then again. He tried to shoo that someone away but it was no use.

"Zoro, the movie ended," said a voice. Zoro could recognise the voice; it belonged to Chopper. Zoro opened his one working eye and blinked a couple of times to adjust to the light of the room.

"Huh? It ended already? It was a pretty good one," Zoro mumbled through his yawn.

"Liar. You slept through almost the whole movie!" Usopp snapped behind Chopper.

"Yohohohoo! You should know Zoro-san well enough to know that he always falls asleep during movies," Brook laughed from the other side of the living room.

"I do not! And I wasn't sleeping, I was just resting my eyes a little bit," Zoro argued. His pride didn't allow him to admit anything.

"It's the same thing, idiot," Nami sighed. She had just opened the curtains, allowing the sunlight to come inside Luffy and Ace's apartment. They all, excluding Franky and Sanji, had gathered there to watch a new comedy movie. "And speaking of being an idiot, have you tried to talk with Sanji-kun?"

"…"

"I take that as a 'no'," Nami said. "Seriously Zoro, how long are you going to keep it like this?"

Zoro didn't answer right away. He wanted to make up with Sanji, he really did. But he was also tired of all this mess. And besides, he made a few stupid mistakes to make Sanji run away from him even more… And jump straight into that Satoshi-guy's arms. Zoro was slowly losing all hope to get Sanji back. Sanji hated Zoro's guts more than anything. And Zoro was stupid enough to think that Sanji needed just a couple of weeks to calm down and come back home. But the reality was different, and now Zoro knew it.

"Well there's nothing I can do anymore. He hates me and that's that," Zoro finally spoke up, crossing his arms on his chest.

Nami was about to say something but Robin came up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, calming her down. "I'm not so sure about that," Robin said in a calm voice. "I saw Cook-san two days ago and talked with him. He seemed to avoid Satoshi-san at work. And it was easy to tell that he was unsure about the situation between you two." Robin's words made Zoro's eye widen a little bit.

"I think now i is the best time to act. You need to show Cook-san how much you care for him," Robin continued, giving a soft smile, encouraging Zoro to think about it. And he really did.

"But what should I do? Everything I do just pisses the cook off even more," Zoro grunted.

"You should ask Sanji to marry you," Luffy blurted out of the blue. This caused Nami to hit the back of his poor head. Luffy yelped and rubbed the sore spot in his head. "What was that for?!"

"You idiot! Zoro can't ask Sanji to marry him!" Nami yelled.

"Why not?" Luffy argued. You could see from his expression that it was the greatest and the most logical idea in the world.

"Because Zoro cheated on him! You can't just go and ask someone to marry you right after that. Things don't work like that," Nami explained, trying to force some sense into Luffy's simple mind.

"But Zoro needs to show how much he cares for Sanji, and try to make him happy. And getting married makes people happy," Luffy said, smiling knowingly. Nami facepalmed. She let out a heavy sigh and mumbled something about how things weren't that simple.

"I think Swordsman-san should start with something smaller, like giving flowers with an apology," Robin said with a thoughtful look. Now it was Luffy's turn to mumble about how boring flowers were.

During all of this conversation, Zoro felt like an outsider. His friends kept talking about what he should do and totally ignored his presence.

"Oi! I'm right here! I appreciate your 'help' and all but I think that I can solve this problem by myself," Zoro finally snapped, tired of being left out of the conversation.

"No you can't!" everybody said in unison, and continued talking about ways to make Sanji warm up again to Zoro.

_'Well thank you for trusting me…'_ Zoro thought, snorting to himself.

Their conversation was cut off soon when the doorbell rang. Luffy ran to open the door. Soon he came back with an unexpected guest, Sanji. Sanji and Zoro's eyes locked to each others for a moment but then they both looked away quickly.

"Oh, Sanji-kun! What are you doing here?" Nami asked, trying to act like there was nothing awkward in the situation. Although, she was surprised that those two idiots weren't trying to kill each other right away. Maybe it was a good sign.

"Well I went to look for Usopp and Chopper after work but I saw a note saying you were here," Sanji said. He made sure not to look at Zoro, not even accidentally. He was still a bit confused on what he thought about the moss head and the whole 'situation'. "So I came here to tell you my good news. I got an apartment. I will move there next weekend."

There was a long silence. Their jaws dropped on the floor and they stared at Sanji in disbelief. Zoro froze completely. He struggled to keep his usual poker face on. It wasn't an easy task. He stared at Sanji for a good moment before he turned to look away, feeling something gripping his heart and stomach. It was painful…

Robin was the first one to snap out of it and cleared her throat. "Well congratulations for your new home," she said smiling softly. The rest of them congratulated Sanji as well, although Zoro was silent. They asked where the apartment located and how big it was. Sanji exclaimed happily how perfect it was, how it had a big kitchen and a lovely balcony where you could see all over to the lake. It wasn't too expensive either.

They all listened to Sanji's excited explanation and asked some basic questions, trying to keep up a nice little chat to avoid any bad situations. But Zoro couldn't take it anymore. This was just too much. He stood up from the couch, not paying any attention to Sanji. An angry and disappointed feeling crossed his face. Zoro stormed past Sanji to the front door and grabbed his leather jacket.

"Oi Zoro! Where are you going?" Ace asked, running after Zoro.

"Away from here…" Zoro murmured and stepped out of the apartment, closing the door with a rather loud slam.

Sanji had just stared at Zoro. He felt a little bit guilty about this whole apartment thing. But then Sanji shook his head. No, there was no reason to feel guilty about it. He had decided to move on in with life and Zoro just needed to suck it up. He was the one who caused this whole problem in the first place. Sanji snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Brook coughing politely.

"So, do you need any help next weekend, Sanji-san?" Brook asked.

"Oh, that would be nice. I can't handle all of those things on my own. I'll also call Franky and ask him to be our driver. He has that big van anyway so it would be handy," Sanji said, trying to collect his thoughts.

Their little conversation made everybody else snap out of their confused states as well. They planned out when they should meet and where. They were going to collect and pack Sanji's stuff. Sanji said that he was too busy to pack beforehand and there weren't even that many things to pack. He was going to let Zoro have most of the furniture. He didn't want things that reminded him about the past. They also called Franky who was willing to help too. They agreed to meet at 9.00am on Saturday in 4 days.

For the rest of the evening, Sanji spent time with his friends, just hanging out. It kept Sanji's thoughts away from Zoro. He didn't want to think about it now.

* * *

Elsewhere, Zoro was driving like a maniac through the city. His mind was one big mess of thoughts. Finally he came home safely. He ran into his apartment, feeling like to throw something, smash some vases, destroy all old memories. The painful feeling in his chest wouldn't go away. Zoro however managed to control himself; destroying the apartment wouldn't bring any comfort in a long run. Instead he walked to the bathroom, striped off all his clothes and stepped into the shower.

Zoro stood there for a good moment. He tried to sort all his raging thoughts and feelings under the cold water. But it was no use. He couldn't help it; he was so sad, angry and disappointed that it hurt. All his friends gave him hope. They were just talking about how Sanji would come back to Zoro for sure. But then Sanji stormed in and blurted out the big news, crushing all of Zoro's hopeful thoughts, every last one of them, leaving him with just a confused mind and an aching heart, and feeling of loneliness.

Zoro punched the wall before him. He kept his eyes tightly closed, feeling the pain spread in his fingers and knuckles. Ace had sent him a text message while he drove home, telling when they were coming and that Zoro had to be there too. Now Zoro was forced to watch Sanji leave for good. Never was he going to come back to him. Never…

Zoro let out a choked sigh. Now he had no choice but to admit it; he was so stupid. He had ruined everything.

After 20 minutes or so, Zoro had calmed down enough to step out of the shower. He wasn't actually that tired but still he went straight to the bed. His mind was empty, all the strong feelings were gone. He felt numb. He lay on the bed for a long time, eyes closed, before he slowly drifted into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

That same evening Sanji struggled with his mixed feelings. He was extremely sad but at the same time pretty excited to move out. He had lived together with Zoro for a year after all. It wasn't that easy to forget all those times. Of course Sanji was still mad at Zoro and could never forgive what he did… Or could he..? NO! Absolutely not! It hurt him so much! He would rather be with Satoshi than get back together with Zoro.

_'Satoshi…'_ Sanji thought. He hadn't spoke to the said man in ages. Not after what happened in the park. Maybe he was too harsh on him… But for some reason, Sanji was still angry with Satoshi for what he said about Zoro.

_'Why does that even bother me?! I think bad things about him too! Oh god, why is my mind working like this…'_

Sanji decided to leave the thinking for later. He went to bed, or actually, just laid down on the couch, and curled up under a soft blanket. He could hear Usopp's soft snores from the other room. He needed to rest as much as possible; he was going to move in 4 days… And ever so slowly, Sanji fell asleep, his head filled with disturbing thoughts.

* * *

4 days went fast and soon it was already Saturday; time for Sanji to move into his new apartment. Sanji and Usopp were standing in front of Zoro's apartment, waiting for Franky, Ace and Luffy to arrive. Soon Franky's light blue van drove to the parking lot and their friends stepped out of the car.

"Good morning bros! Shall we get started?" Franky cried out, doing his usual and weird 'SUPER-pose'. Sanji and Usopp sweatdropped at this but agreed to get things started right away so they could get it over and done with.

They entered the big building and headed towards Zoro's door. Sanji didn't dare use his own key so he just knocked hard enough for Zoro to hear it. The door opened soon after, revealing a grumpy Zoro.

"Oh, so now you came to take your shit out of here, huh?" Zoro huffed, glaring at Sanji. Oh, how he wanted to be somewhere else…

"Oh yes I did, shithead," Sanji snorted back. Okay, now he didn't know why he even bothered to think about this bastard.

Zoro scowled a bit but let everybody walk in. He couldn't be bothered to gather Sanji's belongings beforehand; that could have just irritated the cook. Or so Zoro thought…

"You could have at least sorted some of these stuff so it would be easier to pack them," Sanji nagged while he looked around the apartment, a little frown on his face.

"I'm not your fucking servant, you know," Zoro snapped.

"Yeah, you would be an awful servant anyway…" Sanji mumbled, loud enough for Zoro to hear it.

"Okay, that's it! Just take your stuff and get the hell out of here, shit-cook!" Zoro yelled.

"Gladly," Sanji stated coldly.

Franky, Usopp, Ace and Luffy stood awkwardly in the living room and watched the two ex-lovers yelling at each other. They silently started to place cardboard boxes around the apartment, ready to be filled. Sanji and Zoro glared at each other for another few moments before Sanji turned around and started packing, Usopp and Ace as his help. Franky and Luffy successfully distracted Zoro so that god knows what kind of war between Zoro and Sanji was prevented.

Time went fast and soon Sanji was done with packing. Despite a couple of scowling and snarling expressions and some insults here and there, everything went pretty well. Sanji informed Zoro that he could keep all of the furniture; Sanji was going to buy new ones.

After Sanji had placed one last cooking pot into a large cardboard box, Zoro came into the kitchen and opened the fridge, taking a bottle of beer.

"Oh, you done already?" Zoro grunted, a bored tone in his voice. Really, he wanted Sanji just to go away already. He didn't know how much longer he could take this torture; watching his former beloved pack and get ready to leave for good.

"Yes. We will go now. So you don't need to bare my sorry ass here any longer," Sanji spat out sarcastically. The tension between them was extremely uncomfortable and Sanji wanted to escape it more than anything.

"Good then…" Zoro mumbled and walked into the living room where his friends were already carrying the boxes downstairs and into the light blue van. Sanji walked after Zoro, carrying a rather heavy box. He was about to ask Franky to carry it but he wasn't fast enough.

"Let me take it," Zoro said, standing right in front of Sanji. The beer bottle was standing forgotten on the coffee table, still holding some of the golden liquid inside it. Sanji looked at Zoro's face and saw a relaxed and calm expression with a hint of sadness.

Sanji was about to say something back but Zoro already took the box gently from Sanji's arms, his big and warm hands lightly brushing over Sanji's. Sanji watched Zoro disappear out the door with the box in his strong arms. Sanji's jaw was hanging open and he stared at the door in disbelief. It was a really nice gesture from Zoro to offer to do something like that in a situation like this. Although, Sanji refused to think about it any further.

_'This is the right thing… I know it…'_ Sanji thought, as if trying to convince himself. He ran after the others so they could continue their work in Sanji's new apartment.

Zoro stood silently in the parking lot. He observed how his friends got ready to leave. He watched how Sanji got in his silver car with Usopp and drove away, not saying a word to Zoro. Franky, Ace and Luffy followed him with the van. Now he was alone. His apartment lacked Sanji's belongings and more over, Sanji himself.

Zoro walked slowly inside to his apartment and sat down on the couch, staring at the distance. He felt so empty. He didn't even feel like training nor drinking at the moment. So he just sat there and slowly dozed off.

* * *

_'For fuck's sake, why do I keep forgetting my books in his apartment?!'_ Sanji thought furiously as he drove back to Zoro's place. They had organized Sanji's new home into a good shape already and now Sanji was just going to put his stuff into their right places. He had unpacked almost everything when he noticed that some of his cooking books were missing. Again. He had forgotten them in Zoro's apartment and now he had no other choice than go back.

_'Every freaking time…'_

Now Sanji was standing behind Zoro's door, hesitant to knock. He thought all the other ways to get the books back but he wanted them now! During Sanji's inner battle the door opened, almost hitting Sanji in the face. There the green haired man stood, staring at Sanji with a surprised look. Sanji stared back just as surprised. Zoro managed to open his mouth first.

"What are you doing here cook?"

"I, um… I forgot to pack a couple of books so I came to take them," Sanji stuttered. "Were you going somewhere?"

"Well I was going to take a walk but I guess now I'm not…" Zoro sighed. He stepped away from the door and walked back inside. "Come in then or whatever…" he mumbled as he sat down on the couch.

Sanji walked silently inside, closing the door behind him. He went straight to the bookshelf. He looked through the books when something caught his eye. It was a big brown, leather-covered photo album. Sanji eyed it curiously before he took it into his hands and opened it. A little smile crept onto his lips when he looked at the photos. One of them was taken last Halloween. Sanji was dressed as a prince and Zoro as a knight. Zoro was kneeling down in front of a smirking Sanji, kissing his hand.

"What are you doing?" Zoro asked right behind Sanji. Sanji jumped a bit because he wasn't expecting the other man to be so close to him.

"I was just looking through our old photos," Sanji said and turned the page of the album; there were some pictures from Zoro's birthday party.

"Good old times, eh?" Zoro said, his voice thick with sadness. This made Sanji look at Zoro and his sad face. Sanji felt something twisting in his stomach.

"Yeah, good old times…" Sanji repeated. Just now he noticed how close Zoro was, just few inches away. They looked at each other without a word. Sanji tore his eyes away from Zoro to glance at the photo album. There he saw pictures of a happy couple with their friends. 'Good times… Old times…' He put the album away and looked at Zoro again. He was about to say something about leaving now but instead he gasped in surprise when Zoro's warm lips crashed forcefully against his.

**_~ ~ To be continued ~ ~_**

* * *

_**Ah, how I love cliffhangers. xD**_

**Beta read by ringtailedpheonix**


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